The recent death of Leona Helmsley calls to mind her reputation
as the “queen of mean” and her famous statement, “We don’t pay
taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.” While comparisons between
Mrs. Helmsley and a current, female presidential candidate are
inevitable, her words also remind one of a male entrant from North
Carolina. And it is the contention here that Hillary Clinton and
John Edwards belong together.
His actions in the past few years prove that there really are
two Americas; one for those who are John Edwards, and the other for
those who are not. As oxymorons go, trial-lawyer/populist has to be
one of the most amusing. As we know, Edwards has had a wee bit of
trouble passing himself off as a champion of the poor; what with
his $400 hair-stylings, his new $6 million estate, and his various
sources of income, the latest of which seems to cast him as a
coldhearted landlord.
Just last week, the New York Post reported, “The populist
candidate — who has denounced such lenders — invested $16 million
of his $30 million in assets in Fortress Investment Group. The
Wall Street Journal reported that 34 New Orleans
homeowners struggling to overcome Katrina’s aftermath faced
foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress.”
Now, most folks shouldn’t be expected to know every company held
by their hedge funds — unless, of course, they’re Republicans —
nor is it illegal or immoral for such companies to foreclose. But
for big-government liberals like Edwards, condemning such entities
is their lifeblood. Indeed, in April he proposed legislation to
rein in what he called “shameful lending practices” in New Orleans
and elsewhere.
But Edwards’ involvement with Fortress is more than just an
investment role; last year he received nearly $500K in salary from
Fortress for “part-time” work. You may remember that he said he took this position in
order to learn about poverty. When asked why, he answered, “How
else would I have done it?” The lessons must have worked, because
when further pressed he concluded, “It was primarily to learn, but
making money was a good thing, too.”
And he must have been a really good cubicle buddy too. MSN Money reports that, “According to Federal
Election Commission records, Fortress employed more of Edwards’
campaign donors than any other company, with combined contributions
of nearly $125,000 in the first quarter. Fortress also hosted a
fundraiser for Edwards in March that garnered him more than $1
million.”
Johnny Reid Edwards is a natural as Mrs. Clinton’s running mate.
They’re both great investors who’ll suffer anything to gain more
riches in order to help the poor. He’s even taken on her favorite
foe, criticizing Rupert Murdoch and other tools of the Vast Right
Wing Conspiracy: “the time has come for Democrats to stop
pretending to be friends with the very people who demonize the
Democratic Party.” Except that the time was not ripe in 2004 when
he
received over $800K for a book deal from Harper Collins, a
subsidiary of Murdoch’s News Corp.
But, like Hillary and her husband, Edwards knows how to turn
lemons into lemonade: apologize, then moralize. Two years ago, when
he apologized for voting for the Iraq War Resolution he
co-sponsored, he went on the attack, writing in the Washington Post: “The world desperately
needs moral leadership from America, and the foundation for moral
leadership is telling the truth.”
And if Hillary doubts the sincerity of her future veep, she can
ask John Kerry about bringing Edwards on board. An excerpt from Bob Shrum’s book, No
Excuses, explains:
Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story
with him that he’d never told anyone else — that after his son
Wade had been killed, he climbed onto the slab at the funeral home,
laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he’d do all he
could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade’s ideals
of service. Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me
later, Edwards had recounted the same exact story to him, almost in
the exact same words, a year or two before — and with the same
preface, that he’d never shared the memory with anyone
else.
But I encourage Clinton to go right ahead and make the same prudent
judgment John Kerry did. After all, she and Edwards have so much in
common. Their investment savvy aside, they have to be the most
duped duo in the history of presidential politics. After all, Hill
was apparently duped for years by her philandering husband, and
they were both duped into voting for the war; she by President Bush
and he by Shrum.
And Edwards, it seems, was further duped by Fortress Investment
Group; so much so, that he was prompted to pompously declare in a
tone worth of Mrs. Helmsley, “I will not have my family’s money
involved in these firms that are foreclosing on people in New
Orleans.” Leona Helmsley ended up in the Big House for such
superciliousness, but in the case of Clinton and Edwards, it may
lead them to the White House.
